Enock Francois will have a Bring Your Students to Work Day when he competes in the United States Olympic Team Trials in freestyle wrestling.

They won't actually be in Iowa City with Francois in April, but the support of hundreds of Spencer-Van Etten Middle School students, and the school district as a whole, has helped bring Francois closer to his dream of qualifying for this year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Francois, 29, is hoping to make Rio the next stop on a worldwide journey that has put him in the middle of a coup d'état in Haiti, seen him fight raging forest fires in the western part of the United States, and pitted him against top-level wrestlers from around the globe.

Most notable, however, is the work he has done helping children. Francois is in his second year as a sixth-grade special-education teacher at the Spencer school. Much as he is pushing himself to reach his full potential, he is doing everything in his power to make sure his students do the same.

“He tries to motivate his kids to do their best, and he does not accept less than that from himself or from them,” Knolles said. "He demands the best out of each kid. He wants the best for them and from them."

Francois, who came to Ithaca because it offered the chance to both teach and train with Cornell University's national power wrestling team, began a sabbatical from S-VE in January so he can focus on training for the Trials. Although he is a longshot to win the 97-kilogram (213 pounds) class at the Trials and the Olympics berth that comes with first place, Francois is determined to make sure nobody there outworks him.

“The biggest thing I want to get out of it is to know that I put my best effort forth and I tried the best I could, and I gave myself every opportunity to succeed in what I wanted to do,” he said. “I started on this journey in 2012, and I thought, ‘Do I really want to do this or not?’ My biggest mental hurdle was I didn’t want to look back at it and have any regrets with what I was doing. That’s still what I want out of it.”

His schedule includes national and international meets leading up to the Trials, which are April 9 and 10 in the wrestling hotbed of Iowa City.

Francois has gone from a daunting daily grind that started at 5 a.m. each day and ended at 11 p.m. to a less taxing one devoted to wrestling, though he remains a part of the S-VE school district by continuing to help out the wrestling program as a volunteer assistant when possible. He plans to return there to teach in September.

"You've got a man here who's a teacher helping kids during the day and trying to train in the evenings. It's tough," said Damion Hahn, associate head coach for Cornell. "Now he's taken a sabbatical from Spencer to really devote these next couple of months to really train and vie for a spot on the Olympic team. ... This leave of absence for him, it's going to do wonders for his training cycle and hopefully competition."

Living amid turmoil

Born in Miami, Francois moved to Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince a few months before his first birthday, joining his dad, brother and sister there. His mom continued to work in the United States, traveling back and forth to see the family.

Francois remembers the early years in Haiti as good ones. He and his siblings were able to attend school, which came at a cost there, and he was mostly oblivious to the chaos from the coup that was going on during that time.

“I just saw white men in military outfits and tanks. I was like, 'That's awesome. That's really cool,'" he said. "As a kid, you’re thinking, ‘Look at this, this is awesome. Helicopters are everywhere.' But looking back, those were probably some rough times. My parents were probably panicking.”

Francois admitted his behavior wasn't the best in Haiti, and he often received spankings at school that turned into spankings at home. His conduct, and life, changed dramatically when he joined his mother in the West Palm Beach area of Florida at age 7. The rest of his family followed a couple of years later.

Wrestling leads to wrestling

Like many youths in Haiti, soccer was Francois’ sport of choice. In the United States, television opened him up to the world of professional wrestling, particularly the superstars from World Wrestling Entertainment (known then as the World Wrestling Federation). Designs of becoming the next Rock or Triple H didn't work out as planned.

“I decided in my eighth-grade year, ‘Oh, I’ll go out for wrestling intramurals. I want to jump off some turnbuckles. I want to do some crazy stuff.'" he said. "I came in there, and it was entirely different. The coach was talking about taking shots and shooting halves. I was like, ‘What is this lame stuff? That’s wrestling?’”

He stuck with it and found his calling. Francois won more than 100 matches for Palm Beach Gardens High School and twice qualified for the Florida state tournament, emerging as a muscular 152-pounder after starting out as a skinny 90-pounder.

He spent three years at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa and continued to improve before transferring to California Baptist University in Riverside. Ranked No. 1 in the nation, Francois lost in overtime in the NAIA 174-pound finals as a senior in 2010, a mildly disappointing finish to a career that saw him earn NAIA All-America honors three times.

“What I had going for me was the fact I knew that I was a hard worker," he said. "I knew I was going to keep working to develop. I just needed the proper tools in terms of the coaching and things like that.”

Francois’ pursued his master's degree in teaching at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky. He was also a graduate assistant for two seasons for the university's wrestling team.

He took a semester off to fight fires for six months with the Hotshot Crew in northern California. Francois returned for another season of fighting fires after he graduated from Cumberlands. He still keeps in touch with other Hotshot workers.

"It was a crazy experience, but a really fun one," Francois said. "You had to be a little crazy to do it."

Chasing his dreams

In 2012, Francois decided he would try to qualify for this year’s Olympics. He ramped up the level of his competition and took an assistant coaching job at the United States Military Academy at West Point, known more commonly in athletic circles as Army. Francois was beating some Division I national champions at that point and gaining confidence.

His urge to teach, while still competing at an elite level, led him to Cornell University, one of the nation’s top Division I programs. Cornell head coach Rob Koll was looking for wrestlers to train with his team, for which Francois gets paid. The benefits for Francois are learning from Cornell's coaches and having training partners such as Lansing's Kyle Dake, a four-time national champion at Cornell who is pursuing an Olympics spot at 189 pounds.

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Enock Francois, left, works out with four-time NCAA Division I national champion Kyle Dake during a Cornell University wrestling practice Jan. 21 at the Friedman Wrestling Center in Ithaca.(Photo: ANDREW LEGARE / Staff Photo)

"The coaching staff there is just remarkable," Francois said. "They work schedules around to work with me, and I'm able to work out with the guys and help coach them as well, because one of my passions is coaching in college."

Koll helped get Francois in touch with Knolles, who talked to a deputy assistant commander at West Point while checking references for the open teaching spot.

“He said, ‘Enock is one of the best character guys I’ve ever had around my program, and I would be proud to have him teach and coach my son,’” said Knolles, who doubles as Spencer-Van Etten's varsity wrestling coach. "We brought him up, and he has lived up to that billing on a daily basis. He comes in early, leaves late, gives of his time and is professional, yet personable. He's been a real asset to our academy and the program here."

Francois started his job as a sixth-grade special-education teacher at Spencer-Van Etten Middle School in the fall of 2014 and continued to wrestle at a high level, fitting competitions in around his teaching schedule.

With the Olympic Trials coming up, it became vital for Francois to clear his schedule. Before his break from teaching, Francois would wake up early to lift weights at Cornell, spend a full day teaching, sometimes help Knolles coach the wrestlers at Spencer-Van Etten, practice at Cornell, do his lesson planning and take one or more online classes from Cumberlands in pursuit of a Ph.D. in a leadership program.

The school board gave him the chance to chase the Olympics by granting the leave of absence, something Knolles pointed out they didn't have to do for a second-year teacher. Francois is appreciative of how things have worked out.

"I wanted to teach, but I wanted to keep competing as well," he said. "It was just unique to be able to find an administration that was going to be supportive not only with your career and education, your professional field, but also with athletics."

Said Knolles: "He's quite a character. It's neat for all of our kids to be around someone who's at the international level, no matter what it is — in athletics, academics or engineering or whatever."

Teaching brings rewards

Francois had 12 special-education students this school year. He said some have learning disabilities, some are autistic, some have emotional issues. The students are integrated into regular education classes, and Francois works alongside the regular education teacher, taking over the entire class at times.

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Enock Francois works out with the Cornell University wrestling team on Jan. 21 at the Friedman Wrestling Center in Ithaca.(Photo: ANDREW LEGARE / Staff Photo)

The wrestler/coaching side of Francois found its way into the classroom initially, when Knolles sat in and observed Francois timing the students like a coach would.

"He was like, 'You're running the classroom like a wrestling practice. You keep timing the kids and saying, 'You've got 30 seconds,'" Francois said, laughing as he tells the story. "You're used to doing things a certain way in that structure. I try to make sure I catch myself if I'm doing that too much with time."

Said Knolles: "That was when I first observed him. I bet he had been here like three weeks. He was still a college wrestling coach becoming a special-education teacher. Now he's a special-education teacher who's an Olympics ladder wrestler."

Significant challenges come with his teaching position, particularly balancing individual needs with those of the group as a whole. The job also has rewards far greater than a paycheck.

"That challenge is the biggest reward when it comes through, building that relationship with them and seeing them succeed in a sense, where they were struggling with something before and now you're like, 'Wow, before I couldn't even read your handwriting,'" Francois said.

"The process is rewarding, just seeing them go through the process. And the polished results of it are rewarding to see."

Olympic glory?

Francois was ranked fifth in the United States in his weight class coming into this year, with his admittedly disappointing seventh-place finish at the U.S. Senior Nationals/Trials Qualifier in Las Vegas in December earning him an automatic berth in the Olympic Trials. That came after Francois took a silver medal at the Henri Deglane Challenge in France just after Thanksgiving.

He will join other members of Team USA at the Alexander Medved International in Belarus later this month as he pushes toward the Trials, which Francois expects to be wide open at his weight.

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Enock Francois works out with the Cornell University wrestling team on Jan. 21 at the Friedman Wrestling Center in Ithaca.(Photo: ANDREW LEGARE / Staff Photo)

"From one to eight, we've all beaten each other," he said. "It's just going to go down to who has their minds on right and just get after it and take it. It's there to be had."

Said Hahn: "He's a ball of talent. He's got a lot of great assets I hope in these next couple of months we're able to really bring out, because he's got so many tools. He could make a run at it."

That run won't come alone.

"The district as a whole, the support is amazing," Francois said. "From the kids to all the teachers, they're always checking up. 'How was this tournament? How'd you do? We weren't able to catch this online. Next time, send the link.' ... The love and support I get from here, you can't explain that. It's a pretty awesome experience."